This is a Manchester City predicted lineup for their must-win Club World Cup game against Juventus. As both the Cityzens and the Old Lady have won their games against Wydad Casablanca and Al Ain, the winner of this match will top the group, with the losers potentially having to face Real Madrid in the round of 16. City looked excellent in their last game against Al Ain, securing a comfortable six-nil victory over the UAE-based side with youngsters like Oscar Bobb and Claudio Echeverri being among the goalscorers.
Manchester City Predicted Lineup vs Juventus
How Manchester City Have Lined Up Recently
As promised, Pep Guardiola made wholesale changes heading into what is effectively City’s second game of preseason. None of the starting XI against Wydad retained their spot for the second group game.
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Ederson was replaced in goal by Stefan Ortega, who was making his first competitive appearance for City since the FA Cup final, which was just over one month ago. Rico Lewis was sent off at the end of City’s first match and was therefore absent from the squad entirely. His place on the right-hand side of defence was taken by Abdukodir Khusanov who himself was making his first competitive appearance since the end of March.
Josko Gvardiol and Manuel Akanji replaced Nathan Ake and Vitor Reis in the centre of defence and both duos kept clean sheets in their matches. There was a debut at left-back as Rayan Ait Nouri replaced Nico O’Reilly and the former Wolverhampton Wanderers man impressed fans and pundits alike.
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Nico Gonzalez came into the side at the base of the midfield and lasted an hour before he was replaced by Rodri, who got an assist as he continues his recovery from an injury which ruled him out for most of last season. He was joined in a slightly deeper role by veteran midfielder Ilkay Gundogan who opened the scoring with a delightful chipped finish in the eighth minute and scored again in the 73rd minute.
Bernardo Silva started his first game since being formally appointed as Manchester City’s club captain and he made an assist before being replaced by Rayan Cherki after 73 minutes. Matheus Nunes started on the right wing with Echeverri on the left flank. The young Argentine scored an excellent free-kick in the 27th minute to open his account for City, though he had to be substituted at half-time due to an ankle problem.
Erling Haaland led the line for the Cityzens as he scored a penalty and assisted Cherki with a perfectly-weighted pass in the 89th minute.
Manchester City’s Recent Form and Tactics
City’s win against Al Ain means they have won their opening two games of the Club World Cup without conceding a goal. They are the only team in the tournament to achieve this feat. Guardiola’s men have already qualified for the last 16 regardless of the result against Juventus, but a win against the Italian giants would, theoretically, give them a much easier opponent.
The Cityzens are still on an excellent run of form which stretches back to a loss against Nottingham Forest in early March. From that point onwards, the Sky Blues have lost just once in all competitions, albeit in the FA Cup final, and they have looked much more defensively solid.
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Guardiola employed the same tactical system against Al Ain as he did in the first game of the tournament. City lined up in a 4-4-2 out of possession with Silva being used as the second striker. This worked particularly well as the Portuguese international could use his energy and tenacity to lead City’s press. Nunes started the game on the right wing, a position which he has not played much recently, but he dropped into the right-back position after an hour as Khusanov was withdrawn.
City have also been notably more threatening from set pieces throughout this tournament as the appointment of James French as a set piece coach has seen the Cityzens look much more of a threat from dead balls in the last two games. Jeremy Doku scored from a corner against Wydad whilst Akanji hit the post and Gundogan’s goal came from the second phase of a set piece against Al Ain.
Manchester City Injuries to Consider
Guardiola has been tight-lipped on the injury front ahead of the game against Juventus, though there are a couple of injury-related updates for City fans.
Echeverri’s ankle injury, which forced him off at half-time against Al Ain, looks to be fairly bad. The wonderkid was seen walking on crutches and wearing a protective boot in City’s latest training session which may mean that he is unavailable for selection against the Turin-based side.
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City’s manager previously said that Dias was not ready to start against Al Ain, but he came off the bench for the final 15 minutes of the game. Rodri saw 30 minutes of action from the bench last time out and looked much sharper than he did in City’s opening group game.
The only outfield player to not play at the Club World Cup so far is John Stones. The Englishman had been recovering from a lengthy injury that he suffered against Real Madrid in the Champions League, but he has been named as a substitute in both of City’s games and has not made it onto the pitch.
Manchester City Predicted Lineup Vs Juventus
GK: Ederson
RB: Manuel Akanji
CB: Ruben Dias
CB: Nathan Ake
LB: Josko Gvardiol
RM: Rayan Cherki
CM: Tijjani Reijnders
CM: Bernardo Silva
LM: Jeremy Doku
ST: Phil Foden
ST: Erling Haaland